The present invention relates to the field of fishing lures and more particularly to lures which look and act like real fish.
Fishing is an activity enjoyed by many as a recreational sport or as commercial enterprise. Sport fisherman or recreational anglers still use the time-proven method of dropping a baited hook attached to a piece of line into the water in the hopes of catching a fish. Through modern advances, anglers now have a wide assortment of equipment with which to find and catch fish.
To encourage the fish to bite, the hook may be baited with a tempting morsel of food such as a live bait fish, live worms, roe or other live bait that is part of the natural diet of the fish species sought by the angler. Anglers also may use a fishing lure which is a manufactured artificial bait that mimics the look and action of the natural bait. Although the dietary choices of most fish can be extremely fickle, part of the attraction of fishing is attempting to discern not only where the fish are located but also the type of bait that the fish are interested in eating. When bait fish are not available to the angler or its use forbidden due to local laws restricting such use, anglers often use fishing lures to catch fish. Fishing lures are used by anglers in both salt water and fresh water.
There is a large variety of lures available to fishermen. A number of them have been patented. The following is a partial listing of U.S. patents and published applications covering various types of lures.
U.S. Pat. No. 879,869 discloses an improvement in fish bait which provides with means whereby the rear end may be oscillated in imitation of the swimming movement of a fish. This is accomplished with a series of vertically divided sections.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,776,518 discloses a fish lure which comprises a molded plastic body, including a head section, an intermediate section and a deformable tail section, having a longitudinal bore there through, a rod extending through the bore, a fishhook secured to the rod at the tail section, a swivel secured to the rod at the head section and a weight embedded within the body.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,426,467 discloses an improved worm or lure attachment. A buoyant head is capped over the leading end of a wriggly imitation plastic worm. A spatulate-shape oblique-angled extension on the head provides a duckbill-like diving vane. The head is provided with an axial bore freely receiving a fishing line or leader which is connected to the eye of a fish hook nested in a socket in the rear end of the head. The shank of the fish hook passes through and out of the leading portion of the imitation worm and the point of the fish hook impales the imitation worm.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,611,614 discloses a fishing lure consisting of an insect-like body member of very soft plastic having the shank portion of a fish hook molded longitudinally therein, the point and eye portions of the hook being laterally offset in the same direction from the shank to project outwardly from the plastic body, and one or more enlargements affixed to the shank and molded in the plastic body, the enlargements serving both as weights to hold the hook in a desired position in use, and to hold the plastic body in secure engagement with the hook.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,685,192 discloses a fish shaped lure of soft resilient plastic with neutral buoyancy imparting means or cavity formed therein. An alternate embodiment has a harder head section and a baffle. There are grooves or slots in the sides of the lure. A line attaching nose wire extends forwardly and a snelled hook is also attached to this nose wire. The snelled hook is detachably held along the underside of the line until a fish strikes whereupon it detaches from the underside so that the strain of the fish is taken directly to the nose wire and hence to the line.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,073 discloses an artificial fishing lure for simulating the undulating movement of natural bait. The fishing lure is fabricated of a flexible material, a portion thereof being formed about a weighted member and the shank of a hook. A second portion of the flexible material depends rearwardly substantially circumscribing the hook, the depending portion being substantially in the form of a vertical membrane aligned along the shank of the hook. The depending membrane has its terminus directed toward the head of the fishing lure, the flexibility of the membrane causing the line to horizontally and vertically undulate when the fishing lure is being pulled through water. An alternate embodiment contains vertical slits.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,183 discloses banana oil impregnated plastic fishing lures which are provided in various sizes, shapes, colors and resiliency, in order to increase the lure retention time in the mouth of a fish during a strike. In a preferred embodiment the banana oil is impregnated in the plastic fishing lures by mixing the oil into the plastisol while the plastisol is in a liquid state. The concentration of banana oil utilized may be any concentration which is sufficient to impart a banana flavor to the plastic fishing lures. The banana oil may also be added topically to the fishing lures either prior to or after packaging.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,070,639 discloses a fishing lure system comprising a rigid head and a body having a leading surface adjacent the head. The body, preferably flexible, extends rearwardly from the leading surface and removably receives a shank extending rearwardly from the head. The body has a rattle cavity with a mouth opening through the leading surface and offset from the shank. A rattle assembly, preferably longer and wider than it is high, is removably disposed in the cavity. The system may further comprise a different type of lure, such as a spoon-type lure, adapted to removably receive the same rattle assembly which is disposed in the aforementioned cavity.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,693 discloses a fishing lure comprising a flexible cylindrical body core coated with a silicone skin. A pair of movable eyes is attached to a forward end of the silicone skin, while paint is placed upon the silicone skin, so as to give the lure an extremely realistic look. It can be assembled as a surface popper, so as to create a surface splashing action in water and as a diver, so as to create a diving, wobbling action in the water.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,956,888 discloses a glitter fishing lure formed from a liquid plastisol in which a vinyl resin has been dispersed in primary and secondary plasticizers. The primary plasticizer is an adipate or phthalate ester, the secondary plasticizer is a hydrocarbon, and the weight ratio of the primary to secondary plasticizer is preferably at least about 1.5, and more preferably about 5.25. The plastisol is heated to at least about its fusion temperature, and shaped in a mold to form a lure body. Once the lure body has cooled and hardened, it has a tacky outer surface. The lure body is agitated in the presence of thermoplastic first glitter flakes under dry conditions, so that the first glitter flakes adhere to the tacky outer surface of the lure body.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,061,948 discloses a mountable head that is adapted to be fitted or coupled to a presently existing or common fishing lure, such as a worm and hook fishing lure or a fly fishing lure. The mountable head comprises a head portion having a hollow receiving chamber and attaching components coupled thereto. The attaching components are depressed or bent inwardly into the receiving chamber so that they are in engaging positions. Various colored eyes are painted on or fixedly attached to different head portions to resemble the heads and eyes of bait animals upon which fish prefer to prey. The attaching components aid in securing the head portion to a fishing lure and further aid in securing the body portion of a soft plastic animal fishing lure in place to a fishing hook, thus preventing the body portion from sliding down the shank of the hook. An eyelet access opening is provided on the head portion to allow access to the eyelet of a fishing lure hook so that a fishing line is able to be attached thereto. The mountable head allows a fishing person or angler to easily alter the appearance and attractiveness of a presently existing or common fishing lure by simply interchanging the mountable head so that the lure has a different head and eye color combination. A weight portion is coupled to the head portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,266,916 discloses a fishing lure molded of flexible, translucent, soft plastic material into an integral unit in the form of a baitfish. Pigments, glitter, scent and flavor additives are mixed with the plastic during manufacture to create realistic visual, smell and taste characteristics. A wide gap offset fish hook is removably attached and substantially hidden in the lure by a hook slot in the lower longitudinal edge of the lure, and by an internal chamber. The internal chamber further serves to allow the body of the lure to collapse when attacked by a fish, exposing the point of the hook, as well as to conceal tube weights, flotation inserts, trap air contributing to the buoyancy and upright positioning of the lure, and to act as a reservoir for liquid fish attractant. The buoyancy and sink rate of the lure can be manipulated by utilizing various combinations of hook sizes, tube weight sizes, and flotation inserts positions into the internal chamber. Realistic movement of the lure is attained through the buoyancy and flexibility of the plastic material, the hydrodynamics of the design, and through rod, reel and fishing line manipulation by the angler.
U.S. Pub. No. 2001/0039753 discloses a combination fishing lure comprising a common lure and jacket. The removable jacket is a highly elastic covering molded into a seamless, elongated shell that is stretchable over the lure. The thickness of the jacket provides a natural flesh-like texture to wood, hard plastic or metal lures while protecting the lure from scratches caused by fish strikes or by collision with other objects. The jacket has a cavity with at least a first opening providing access to the cavity. The lure is removably positioned in the cavity of the jacket by stretching the jacket in the region surrounding the opening until it is large enough to insert the lure. The jacket may include a rearwardly projecting tail portion that changes the appearance of the lure by increasing the overall length of the lure and that moderates the erratic wobble of the lure creating a realistic undulating swimming action.
It is believed that common attributes of a successful lure are its coloration, size, appearance and swimming action. With respect to the coloration of a lures, one skilled in the art will appreciate that, with use, the decals or the painted design of a lures often become scratched from collisions with other items in the angler's tackle box, with items under water such as rocks, submerged logs or other such debris or from repeated strikes by fish attracted by the lure. The brightness of the painted design may also fade after extended use in water and exposure to sunlight. With continued use, such lures may tend to lose their effectiveness resulting in fewer and fewer strikes over a given period of time because fish tend to avoid lures that appear unattractive or unappealing as food.
At times the water conditions may make it difficult for fish to locate bait because of, for example, darkness or murky water conditions. When this occurs, anglers may need to fish with a lure that has a metallic or shiny finish or that is fluorescent so as to increase visibility of the lure in the water.
With respect to the swimming action of a lure, it is desirable for action of the lure to closely mimic the undulating side-to-side motion of a natural bait fish. However, most lures have an erratic side-to-side action or wobble significantly different from the natural motion of a bait fish. Accordingly, it is desirable to modify the motion of a lure such that it has a fluid, undulating side-to-side motion of a bait fish as it is cranked in by the angler.
Another problem that arises with many lures is that even though the body design closely duplicates the natural bait which the lure is intended to replace, fish often hit the bait but do not strike to the degree necessary to permit the angler to set the hook and catch the fish. One reason for this is that fish have sensitive mouths and are able to discern that the texture of the lure is hard and unfamiliar. Having tasted the bait, fish lose interest and move on to seek other bait. It would be to the angler's benefit to present a lure that has both the swimming action of a natural fish as well as the texture and taste that more closely simulates fish flesh than does a wood, metal or hard plastic lure or a lure having a cloth covering.
Development of a lure which has the swimming action and texture of a natural fish as well as the looks of a real fish represents a great improvement in the field of angling and satisfies a long felt need of the angler.